Your Right to Know

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear convicted killer Romell Broom’s argument that the state should
not get a second chance to try to execute him.

The court agreed this week to hear the appeal of Broom, 57, who was sentenced to death for the
1984 abduction, rape and murder of Tryna Middleton, 14, of Cleveland, as she walked home from a
football game.

Attorneys Adele S. Shank of Columbus and Timothy Sweeney of Cleveland argue that Broom would
face unconstitutional “double jeopardy” if the state tries a second time to execute him. They also
say it would violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Strickland postponed Broom’s execution a week, but then it was pushed back indefinitely.

Since then, Broom has lost appeals to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and the 8th District
Court of Appeals. However, the Ohio Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal to consider only the
claims about double jeopardy, cruel and unusual punishment and a technical issue.

A hearing date has not been set in the case.

Shank said that although the state has not been pushing for a new execution date for Broom, “as
long as his death sentence stands, it’s still hanging over his head.”

Broom had a pattern of molesting young girls, according to court records. He was arrested three
months after Middleton’s murder when he forced an 11-year-old into his car. He previously served
81/2 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old.

In another Death Row case, attorneys for Ronald Phillips asked for a delay in his execution
until 2016 so his mother can lose enough weight to receive a kidney transplant from him. Gov. John
Kasich already had granted a reprieve from November 2013 until July. After a federal judge’s
temporary moratorium on the death penalty this week, Kasich moved the date to Sept. 18. His
original reprieve for a potential organ transplant was the first in U.S. history for an inmate
about to be executed.

Donna Phillips, who has end-stage renal disease, weighs more than 300 pounds and is older than
65. She has lost a foot to diabetes and has used a wheelchair for about a decade. She is seeing
doctors about possible bariatric surgery so she can shed enough pounds to be eligible for the
transplant. Medicare would cover both operations, the lawyers say.

She made a personal plea to delay the execution in a three-page letter to Kasich.

The state prisons agency already has informed Ronald Phillips that his request for
post-execution transplants may not be honored by federal oversight bodies.

In 1993, Phillips raped, beat and killed the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend at the
time.